Those That Mattered

Author: Barbara Angle

Year Published: 1994

Description: Those That Mattered by Barbara Angle is a partly autobiographical novel about a young woman who comes of age in a West Virginia coal-mining community. Facing limited opportunities following a divorce, she follows in the footsteps of her grandfather, father, brother and nearly all other men in the town by going underground, becoming one of the first females to do so. Within this context, the book lays bare the physical and mental harshness of mining as well as the scorn and harassment faced by women in the male-dominated occupation.